作者简介：

菲利普·津巴度（Philip Zimbardo）

美国著名的心理学家，他曾做了著名的斯坦福监狱实验（Stanford Prison Experiment），探究人在客观环境改变的前提下，是否会出现行为异常的问题，是阿布格莱布监狱的专家证人。他的著作有《撒旦效应探索邪恶的本质》，目前他的工作是研究英雄主义的本质。

I want to share with you some ideas about the secret power of time,in a veryshort time.

我想跟你们分享一些对时间的神秘力量的看法，当然是在很短的时间内。

All right,start the clock please. 30 seconds studio.Keep it quiet please. Settle down.It's about time. End sequence. Take one.15 seconds studio.10, nine, eight, seven,six, five,four, three, two ...

好的，开始计时。30秒倒计时保持安静。注意时间。结束倒计时。15秒倒计时10，9，8，76，5，4，3，2......

Philip Zimbardo: Let's tune into the conversation of the principals in Adam's temptation."Come on Adam, don't be so wishy-washy. Take a bite." "I did.""One bite, Adam. Don't abandon Eve.""Idon't know, guys.I don't want to get in trouble.""Okay.One bite. What the hell?"

Philip Zimbardo：让我们来看看这段对话，是有关“亚当的诱惑”：快，亚当，别磨磨唧唧的，就咬一口，我已咬过了，就一口，亚当。不要放弃夏娃。我不知道啊，我真的不想惹麻烦好吧，就一口。能怎么样？

Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting,yes, no,now, later, impulsive, reflective,presentfocus and future focus.Promised virtues fall prey to the passions of the moment.

生活中充满了诱惑。而且到处都是：屈服或反抗，是、不是，现在、随后，冲动、沉稳，专注现在和展望未来。激情时刻一旦到来，道德束缚将皆被打破。

Of teenage girls who pledged sexual abstinence and virginity until marriage --thank you George Bush --the majority, 60 percent, yielded to sexual temptations within one year.And most of them did so without using birth control.So much for promises.

那些承诺婚前无性行为的女孩——这里感谢下小布什总统——大多数，大概百分之六十的人在一年之内就违背了自己的承诺，而这些人几乎没采取任何“安全措施”多么多的承诺啊。

Now lets tempt four-year-olds, giving them a treat.They can have one marshmallow now. But if they wait until the experimenter comes back, they can have two.Of course it pays, if you like marshmallows, to wait.What happens is two-thirds of the kids give in to temptation.They cannot wait. The others, of course, wait.They resist the temptation. They delay the now for later.

现在我们来试试引诱4岁的孩子，拿他们来做个试验。他们现在有一个棉花糖，如果他们能够等到实验员回来再吃的话，就可以得到2个棉花糖。这当然是需要付出的，如果你真喜欢吃棉花糖的话，那就等着。但结果是3分之2的孩子屈服于诱惑，他们等不了。当然，其它的孩子都得到了第二个棉花糖，因为他们抵抗了诱惑。他们甘于先苦后甜。

Walter Mischel, my colleague at Stanford,went back 14 years later,to try to discover what was different about those kids.There were enormous differences between kids who resisted and kids who yielded, in many ways.The kids who resisted scored 250 points higher on the SAT.That's enormous. That's like a whole set of different IQ points.They didn't get in as much trouble. They were better students.They were self-confident and determined. And the key for me today,the key for you,is, they were future-focused rather than present-focused.

沃特米塞奇，是我在斯坦福大学的同事，他在14年后，重新找到这些孩子并去勘察他们现时的情况，结果发现这两组孩子在各个方面都有着巨大的差异。那些等到了第二个棉花糖的孩子在SAT中比另一组得分平均高250分。这是多么大的差异啊！这根本就是两组智商水平不同的孩子啊。他们都没有任何问题，都是好学生。他们自信而且果断。那么今天我所要说的关键是，同样也是你们的关键点，就是由“面向现在”转变为“展望未来”。

So what is time perspective? That's what I'm going to talk about today.Time perspective is the study of how individuals,all of us,divide the flow of your human experience into timezones or time categories.And you do it automatically and non-consciously.They vary between cultures, between nations,between individuals,between social classes,between education levels.And the problem is that they can become biased,because you learn to over-use some of them and under-use the others.

那什么是时间洞察力呢？这将是我下面要讲的。时间洞察力是研究个人，包括我们在内，如何以时间区域或时间类别为单位划分自身的经历体验。其实我们一直都在自然而然地做着而影响我们划分方式的因素有很多，包括不同的文化背景、国家，个人、社会阶层以及不同的教育背景。问题是由于这些因素的存在，最终导致时间洞察力都具是片面的，因为你学会经常使用其中的一些，而其他的则被很少使用。

What determines any decision you make?You make a decision on which you're going to base an action.For some people it's only about what is in the immediate situation, what other people are doing and what you're feeling. And those people, when they make their decisions in that format --we're going to call them "present-oriented," because their focus is what is now.

是什么促使你做出那些选择？你所做的决定是基于你怎么采取行动的。对一些人来说，这个决定只是基于现状，另一些人是基于他们的直觉。对于那些基于现状而做决定的人，我们称呼他们为：“面向现在”，因为他们专注于现正发生的事情。

For others, the present is irrelevant.It's always about "What is this situation like that I've experienced in the past?"So that their decisions are based on past memories. And we're going to call those people "past-oriented," because they focus on what was.

对于另一些人来说，现正发生什么并不重要。就好像是说：“我以前好像经历过类似的事情”一样。所以，他们基于过去的经验来做决定 我们称呼这些人为：“观望过去”，因为他们专注于过去。

For others it's not the past, it's not the present, it's only about the future. Their focus is always about anticipated consequences.Cost-benefit analysis. We're going to call them "future-oriented."Their focus is on what will be.

还有一部分人，他们的考虑不是基于现在，也不是过去，而是未来。他们专注于预期的结果，就像成本效益分析一样。我们称呼这些人为：展望未来。因为他们专注于将来会是怎么样的。

So, time paradox, I want to argue,the paradox of time perspective,is something that influences every decision you make,you're totally unaware of.Namely, the extent to which you have one of these biased time perspectives.Well there is actually six of them. There are two ways to be present-oriented.There is two ways to be past-oriented, two ways to be future.You can focus on past-positive, or past-negative.You can be present-hedonistic,namely you focus on the joys of life, or present-fatalist--it doesn't matter, your life is controlled.You can be future-oriented, setting goals.Or you can be transcendental future:namely, life begins after death.Developing the mental flexibility to shift time perspectives fluidly depending on the demands of the situation,that's what you've got to learn to do.

那么，时间悖论，这里我要讨论的是：时间洞察力的悖论，会不会有某个因素影响你做出的每一个决定，而你又完全不知？那你就具有某种程度上的片面的时间洞察力，实际上是有六种时间洞察力，其中两个属于“面向现在”，两个属于“观望过去”，还有两个属于“展望未来”。你可以专注于“积极经历”或“消极经历”，也可以专注于“享受现在”。指的是你专注于生活中的快乐，或者自身宿命。这些都无所谓，因为你的生活尽在掌握。当然，你也可以“展望未来”，设定一个目标或者超越未来，指的是：生命在死后重新开始。通过增强精神灵活性来顺利地提升时间洞察力，这有赖于环境的需求，这就是你要学着去做的。

So, very quickly, what is the optimal time profile?High on past-positive. Moderately high on future.And moderate on present-hedonism.And always low on past-negative and present-fatalism.So the optimal temporal mix is what you get from the past --past-positive gives you roots. You connect your family, identity and yourself.What you get from the future is wings to soar to new destinations, new challenges.What you get from the present hedonismis the energy, the energy to explore yourself,places,people, sensuality.

那么，什么是最佳的时间洞察力呢？高度依赖于“积极经历”，适度依赖于未来。适度依赖于“享受现在”，永远不考虑“消极经历”和“宿命论”。其实，最佳的时间洞察力是由你过去的经历——“积极经历”奠定了基础，你和你的家庭，独立自主。从未来得到是值得奋斗的目标，新的挑战从“享受现在”中得到的是动力去探索自身、世界、他人以及原始需求。

Any time perspective in excess has more negatives than positives.What do futures sacrifice for success?They sacrifice family time. They sacrifice friend time.They sacrifice fun time. They sacrifice personal indulgence.They sacrifice hobbies. And they sacrifice sleep. So it affects their health.And they live for work, achievement and control.I'm sure that resonates with some of the TED sters.

任何时间洞察力中总是负性多于正性的。举个例子：为了将来的成功我们需要牺牲些什么呢？我们需要牺牲和家庭在一起的时光，需要牺牲和朋友在一起的时光，需要牺牲那些快乐的时光，需要牺牲个人嗜好，需要牺牲业余爱好，需要牺牲睡眠时间。因此会影响身体健康。他们的生活中只有工作、成就和控制欲。我保证你们在座的一些人会对此引起共鸣。

And it resonated for me. I grew up as a poor kid in the South Bronx ghetto,a Sicilian family -- everyone lived in the past and present.I'm here as a future-oriented person who went over the top, who did all these sacrifices because teachers intervened, and made me future oriented.Told me don't eat that marshmallow,because if you wait you're going to get two of them,until I learned to balance out.I've added present-hedonism, I've added a focus on the past-positive,so, at 76 years old, I am more energetic than ever, more productive,and I'm happier than I have ever been.

这些与我引起了共鸣，我出生于南布朗克斯贫民窟中的一个贫困的西西里岛人的家庭中。每个人都是在沉湎过去和活在当下。在这里，我，作为一位“展望未来”的人，拜我的老师所赐，我做出了以上所有的牺牲，并将我改变成为一位“展望未来”的人。告诉我不要那个棉花糖，因为如果你等待的话，就能吃到2个。直到我学会了如何平衡舍与得的关系。现在我学会了“享受现在”，同时也学会了观望“积极经历”。因此，在我76岁的时候，我感觉到从没有过的精力、动力，现在的我比以前任何时候都要快乐！

I just want to say that we are applying this to many world problems:changing the drop-out rates of school kids,combating addictions, enhancing teen health,curing vets' PTSD with time metaphors -- getting miracle cures --promoting sustainability and conservation,reducing physical rehabilitation where there is a 50-percent drop out rate,altering appeals to suicidal terrorists,and modifying family conflicts as time-zone clashes.

这里，我只是想说，要应用这个原理去解决世界上的很多问题：改变学校的退学率，打击毒品，增强青少年健康，用时间隐喻法治疗那些患有创伤后应激障碍的老兵——创造医学奇迹——促进可持续发展和保护，在具有50%退出率的医院内减缓身体康复，改变那些呼吁自杀的恐怖分子，将家庭矛盾转化为时间区域的冲突。

So I want to end by saying:many of life's puzzles can be solvedby understanding your time perspective and that of others.And the idea is so simple, so obvious,but I think the consequences are really profound.

最后我想说的是：如果真正理解自身的以及其他人的时间观点的话，生活中的许多困惑都会被解开，道理是简单且显而易见的，但结论是深奥的。

文中生词：

Pledged： v.保证，许诺，发誓( pledge的过去式和过去分词 )； 典当； 保证给予（或做）； 以誓言约束

Marshmallow: n. [C, U] a pink or white sweet/candy that feels soft and elastic when you chew it 棉花软糖

Perspective：n.透镜，望远镜； 观点，看法； 远景，景色； 洞察力

adj.（按照）透视画法的； 透视的

Irrelevant:adj.(to sth/sb) not importantto or connected with a situation 无关紧要的；不相关的

Anticipated：vt.预先考虑到； 先于…前行动； 提前支用（薪金等）

adj.预先的； 预期的

Metaphors：n.暗喻；隐喻

Suicidal：adj.（想）自杀的，自杀性的； 自我毁灭的，自取灭亡的； 于己不利

原文出自：Ted Talk

原文链接：http://v.163.com/movie/2011/9/I/L/M7CEB9FAL_M7CEBDOIL.html?recomend=2

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